Shipp: GOP squandering return to power in Georgia General Assembly

Why are Democrats laughing? Sure, the Republicans have made a mess. Their first turn at running state government in more than a century has mostly bombed.

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Their legislative package is so virulently anti-populist that even some big business boosters are stunned. Unfettered increases in auto insurance rates, severe restrictions on civil redress, degradation of public education, sweetheart legislation for developers - these are just a few issues that have cooled popular enthusiasm for rulers of the so-called New Georgia.

Gov. Sonny Perdue has struck one bump in the political road after another - whether he's trying to fly a state helicopter, demoting his bodyguards or redoing Medicaid.

Rep. Glenn Richardson's toughest critics say the new House speaker has become a caricature of an old Dixie politician, eager to please the Lexus-and-vichyssoise crowd but scornful of his Douglas-Paulding pickup peers. His appointment of a special bully squad to silence committee debate gave him a lasting black eye.

Bill

Shipp

more Shipp columns

www.billshipp.com

Some of the GOP's once-hot moral topics appear to have cooled. The predicted tsunami of same-sex marriages never arrived. Only a few eccentrics still harp on Darwinism. Anti-abortion absolutism has faded.

The Georgia GOP is split on substantive questions. Many are related to economic growth, transportation and the environment. Have Republican leaders forgotten so soon that the suburban NIMBYs, the anti-development, not-in-my-backyard gang, were mostly their supporters? And, oh, yes, some grassroots Republicans are beginning to feel betrayed on immigration issues. The continuing influx of illegal aliens is straining to the breaking point several communities' infrastructures. Our U.S. senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, talk the talk on immigration, but our GOP-led congressional delegation can't seem to make a dent in the ruinous problem.

The statehouse's infatuation with government secrecy has created crevices of distrust in much of the electorate.

So Democrats should be dee-lighted, right?

Well, maybe. The donkeys' strategists are certain the current Capitol crowd will soon be out of work. The Dems may be right, yet the next state government is more likely to be populated by new Republicans instead of old Democrats.

The truth is, despite Republican disasters, Democrats are still in deep trouble. They don't seem to be doing much to get their ship back in shape - at least not in the South and certainly not in Georgia.

For instance:

 Democrats have elected as their new national chairman Dr. Howard Dean of Vermont, a liberal dove who thinks going south means traveling to New Jersey. To win again in the South, Democrats must appeal to the white male vote. In mostly white suburban and rural Georgia, even the Rev. Al Sharpton has more appeal than Dean.

 Democrats are repeating the mistakes of formerly out-of-power Republicans. For years, Democrats prevailed because the deeply divided GOP insisted on engaging in meaningless internal turf battles. Now, Democrats have taken up the Republicans' bad old habit of putting intraparty struggles ahead of nearly everything else.

 Georgia's Jewish community, once a bedrock of Democratic support, is becoming increasingly suspicious of the national party, especially since Dean moved into the chairman's seat. That skepticism shows up in lukewarm support for Democrats on local and state levels.

 African-Americans have established a good record with their state-level politicians. Attorney General Thurbert Baker, Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond and several appellate judges are top-notch elected officials. Unhappily, racism still runs deep. Democratic identification with minorities may be an obstacle nearly too difficult to overcome. The African-American record of administering good government at the local level is mixed at best.

 A loss of leadership plagues the once-dominant party. Since the GOP beat former Gov. Roy Barnes and co-opted ex-Sen. Zell Miller, no dominant Democratic leader has emerged. Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor has valiantly carried the torch against Republicans. Having been stripped of most of his authority, however, Taylor's real power consists of little more than being a generator of anti-GOP press releases. Secretary of State Cathy Cox shows promise of reinvigorating Democratic voters, but she has so far maintained a low profile. A gubernatorial primary contest between Taylor and Cox could turn out to be a make-or-break battle for Democrats.

 New congressional redistricting maps are putting at high risk the re-election chances of Democratic Reps. John Barrow and Jim Marshall, thus giving Republicans an even stronger hand in the D.C. delegation.

While some Republicans currently occupying the state Capitol may appear to be on the endangered list, their party's brand could remain dominant - if the next generation of GOP elected officials proves to be less enthralled by power, position and fawning lobbyists.